WoW – More fun together!

Bear Hunter

Approximate: Hey everyone, Approximate the hunter here to weigh in on the ‘follow the tank issue’. I wanted to lay things out from the perspective of a DPS. I brought Reversion along to agree with me.

Reversion: Eh, Approx, I am not sure I like that title. That seems to imply…

Approximate:: Well let’s get right into it. First off people complain a lot about not ‘waiting to buff’. That is a load of nonsense. I mean really. Is there any buff that can’t be cast while moving? No. Well except for food buffs but who uses those in 5 mans these days anyway?

Reversion: Right. Get right to business. If you must type ‘hi’ when you zone it, do it while moving. Hit numlock and type fast. Don’t stop and wait because your tank sure ain’t.

Approximate: Well you do want to check that your tank has zoned in. They might be some slacker with puny ram that has them stuck on a loading screen. So watch for that. Also you need just enough time to set your focus on the tank. This will be important for your misdirect macro.

Reversion: Well yeah I guess. You need to misdirect. Also if you stop to do that it will give your tank a little lead. It is important for the tank to get out ahead of the dps. You want to arrive at the fight well before anyone else so you can get good threat built up.

Reversion: This brings up an important point. If you are getting into a fight early you need to expect no heals. Particularly if your slacker healer is back there eating last week’s mammoth so their emo bar will be all charged. Make sure you use your aoe debuffs and tanking cooldowns. Don’t blow them all at once. You don’t want to have them all drop off you at once. You need to space them out so they last long enough for your healer to load the instance on their ancient PC, buff like a twinking fool, eat their lunch and then complain about your pulling already. All that, and the fact that half your dps is trying to figure how which end of the mouse to hold, means you have to survive the whole fight with that first pack without healing and with low dps.

Approximate: You got that right. As a DPS this means it is critical to not pull off the tank during that first fight. For one thing you are not likely to get heals. Also you don’t know yet if he knows which of his little buttons is a ‘taunt’. Until you are sure he can do that you need to use your MD and not blow your Feign Death too fast. Additionally you want to be just far enough behind the tank that if some emo princess in the party wants to kick the tank for pulling too fast you will not appear to be associated with him.Reversion: Eh… yeah, whatever. Oh, also as a tank be sure to taunt off of any dps that joins you right away in that fight. Sure they might be trigger happy overachievers, no way to be sure yet, but they are probably going to be doing the bulk of your party’s dps because they are on the ball. If you want a fast run you have to keep them alive.

Approximate: Darn right you do! For one thing it is the tanks JOB so get to it! Also if you let them die they might leave and you will get stuck with some DK that does not know death and decay from effervescence.

Reversion: Heh. Yeah. Now after that first party is down you have a critical opportunity to assess your party. You should be already able to tell who is has joined you and who hasn’t. If most of your party is still near the start you will need to decide if you have enough cooldowns to pull the next pack.

Approximate: Hah! Good one!

Reversion: No really this is important…

Approximate: What is important is to get that next pack pulled right away. You have to set that pace up front and make sure those other dps know it is time to step up and get their butts in gear. Plus if you wait your healer might hit ‘enter’ on that wall of ‘slow down’ tirade that he is typing. If you pull right away he will be forced to press escape and get to work healing.

Reversion: Heh good one! But really you should assess… Well you could do it after the second pull. That will give you more recount data to gauge your party’s dps.

Approximate: Right… whatever. Now what you have to do with this second pull is get save your MD to pull a third group. This is important for showing the tank that you want a nice fast run. Don’t wait. Get things off on the right footing.

Reversion: I would not recommend that as you can’t be sure yet what the tank can handle. And they might not have enough cooldowns up for the next…

Approximate: What do I look like? A badge vendor? It is not my problem if they don’t have enough tanking trinkets yet. MD that next group and find out what your tank is really made of.

Reversion: Well yes. I mean that would tell you up front if the tank can handle multi pulls or not.

Approximate: Right. So just lay into them. Now at some point those groups are going to be almost dead. Then there is just one question to ask yourself. Is there another group in range?

Reversion: And ‘does the healer have mana?’ So two questions.

Approximate: What are you a commie? What business is that of yours? There is just one… well there is another question to ask.

Reversion: The tanks health?

Approximate: Your kidding right? That is what healers are for. The question “is MD or FD off cooldown.”

Reversion: Well it is true that you need to be aware of your threat reduction tools. Everyone should pay attention to their own threat.

Approximate: Why are you spouting all this sissy stuff? You don’t do any of that!

Reversion: Sometimes I do. I often check the healers mana before boss pulls.

Approximate: Yeah when you are not pulling three add packs with the boss.

Reversion: Well maybe not then…

Approximate: Or pulling two bosses at once.

Reversion: I might check their mana before the first boss. And I pay attention if they say their mana is low.

Approximate: Dropping bearform while tanking a boss so you can innervate them does not count as ‘paying attention’.

Reversion: You are getting off the script.

Approximate: Script? What do you mean? I never saw a script.

Reversion: Analogue wanted us to do a post on the right way DPS and Tanks have to work together for the success of the whole run.

Approximate: Ah hah! So that is why you were spouting all that pansy nonsense. Kissing up to get more heals.

Reversion: I don’t need to kiss up. I hardly ever need healing. I can do almost any pull in any heroic with no heals at all.

Approximate: If your dpsers are decent. How often does that happen?

Reversion: Well…

Approximate: And how often do you only pull one pack. I mean honestly. Who are you trying to fool.

Reversion: Hey! Sometimes I pull just one.

Approximate: Room

Reversion: Some rooms are basically one pack.

Approximate: Usually those are rooms with a boss.

Reversion: If they did not mean for you to tank the group with the boss they should not have been them near each other.

Approximate: You mean within charge range?

Reversion: Right. Charge is an excellent way to pull a second group. It minimizes time spent not generating threat.

Approximate: Misdirect is better. That way they come TO the tank. A second pack often gets to the tank before MD’s effect has worn off.

Reversion: Another good way is to use FFF on one pack and charge another. That way you round up even more with minimal down time.

Approximate: I can agro two with the same MD. Select party 1, turn your camera toward party 2. Pop the MD macro, multi shot at the still selected party 1, click or tab to get party 2 up and multi shot again.

Reversion: That seems more risky but should work. Of course they have to both be in range

Approximate: Not if I use my Nitro boosts. I can use the same MD to hit parties in two completely different rooms.

Reversion: …

Approximate: Then even if MD is gone you target a third party, fire, disengage, run toward the tank and then FD. Preseto! 3 extra groups.

Reversion: You are horrible, you know that.

Approximate: You are just jealous because I can pull more packs at once than you.

Reversion: Nonsense! I can easily pull that many. You can use FFF in cat form.

Approximate: Yeah?

Reversion: While using ‘dash’.

Approximate: What if you get hit?

Reversion: Many cooldowns like barkskin and tanking trinkets work while you are in cat. I can usually get to the third group before someone back there pulls something off me.

Approximate: Yeah most DPS are bad like that. They can’t stick close enough to the tank to MD agro to him.

Reversion: I thought you liked to run way ahead of the tank.

Approximate: Well yeah. I wish I could get tanks that could keep up. I wish I could put one in the sidecar of my Hog and just drive through the instance rounding everything up. We could pull the whole place.

Reversion: That would be Halo, not WOW.

Approximate: Oh yeah… darn.

Reversion: Besides, we would need to get a mammoth and bring a healer too. Tanking cooldowns will only keep us alive for 2 or 3 packs, not the whole place.

Approximate: Hmm… True. Even without the mount I bet we could pull most of an instance. If you could keep up with me.

Reversion: Hah! More like YOU keep up with ME. I am going to have to account transfer just so I can show you up.